Last November I reported on an article that brought out some facts about Pete and Emil Hauser’s early lives. I recently reread it and noticed that I had overlooked something. The article from the The Kansan stated that he was killed in July 1935 while changing a tire near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. So far, I’ve come up mostly dry. I talked with Mark Schnabel, the reporter who wrote the piece, who told me he just reported what the speaker said. Now I’m trying to get in touch with the speaker, Carolyn Williams of the Halstead Historical Society. Like many historical societies in small towns, Halstead has very limited hours and I haven’t been able to make contact with her as yet.
I then browsed through the books I have in my possession and found mention of this event in the 2007 Sally Jenkins book. On page 307 she wrote, “He [Hauser] was killed in a roadside accident while changing a tire near Pawhuska in the 1940s.” Although her book has many endnotes, there is none for this item. I then began to look for a newspaper article about the accident and his obituary. I have found neither so far but haven’t completed the search. It will probably take a while.
While perusing the Cheyenne & Arapahoe censuses, I found his date of death. The 1934 tribal roll listed Pete Hauser as living on the Osage Indian Reservation. Perhaps he had married an Osage woman. That is something else to research. Pete’s listing was lined out but still readable. “Died 7/21/35” was handwritten above his last name. So, Carolyn Williams got it right about his date of death and Sally Jenkins got it wrong. Having the date of death established should help narrow down newspaper accounts of his death. Now for the location. The Osage Reservation is off US Route 60 more or less equidistant from Bartlesville and Pawhuska, which are 26 miles apart. Maybe I’ll get an email that solves the puzzle or I’ll locate a newspaper that covered it. Until then, it’s a loose end.
Tags: Carolyn Williams, Cheyenne, Halstead Historical Society, Mark Schnabel, Osage, Sally Jenkins, The Kansan
Tom Benjey's Weblog 
May 10, 2009 at 9:50 pm |
He was my great uncle and I would like any new information. I live in Seattle Washington. Thank you
May 10, 2009 at 10:32 pm |
Thank you for getting in contact, William. “Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs” contains a chapter on Pete and Emil Hauser. Is Emil your grandfather or great uncle? That chapter is being revised for inclusion in “Oklahoma’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals” to contain more about Pete’s untimely death and how Emil came to take the name “Wauseka.” It also has some photos that I obtained recently in which Pete and Emil Hauser are featured.
You probably have information about their lives after Carlisle that I don’t know.
Tom